Composer of the Month 9/2010: Vincenzo Bellini   (selected by Peter van Dessel / Belgium)

Italy 27.1.2007 The Italian opera composer Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was born on November 3rd 1801 in Catania, Sicily. Already at age of 12, he presented first own compositions. A scholarship by the Duke of Sammartino enabled him to study at the "Reale Collegio di Musica di San Sebastiano" in Naples 1819 - 1825. After graduation, he wrote commissioned pieces for the Opera House in Naples, but soon also for the opera houses in Milan, Venice and Paris. Together with his librettist Felice Romani, Bellini laid the foundation for the romantic Italian opera. His main works, "Norma", "La Sonnambula", "Anna Bolena" and "I Puritani" are still in the standard repertoire of many opera houses. Vincenzo Bellini died on 23 September 1835 in Puteaux, near Paris. September 2010 marks the 175th anniversary of his death. The video shows the soprano Anna Netrebko with the aria "Ah! non giunge" from the opera "La Sonnambula" (recorded in London in 2007) More composers in the members only section